March 3, 



HORTICU LTURE 



>i 



THE CARNATION OF TODAY 



(A paper by Robert Craig, of Philadelphia, presented to the Horticultural Society of New York on Feb. 14, 1906.) 



The carnation, as grown today, is 

 most exclusively a florists' flower, and 

 iizers have been breeding to im- 

 prove this strain, but there is a wider 

 field and an important field for them — 

 the development of garden carnations 

 hardy enough to live through the win- 

 ter without protection, in the latitude 

 of Philadelphia and New York, and 

 with the quality of blooming through 

 the summer. The discussion of this 

 idea might form a lengthy paper in 

 so I will confine my remarks to 

 varieties grown under glass for win- 

 ter bloom. 



It would not be wise for me in view 

 of the fact that at the present time 

 the literature of the carnation is so vo- 

 luminous, to attempt to give you a 

 comprehensive and detailed history of 

 the wonderful flower, as we know it 

 today, and as we see it here on the 

 tables tonight, 



There is more space in the garden- 

 ing papers devoted to the carnation 

 than to any other plant or flower." The 

 minutest details as to soils to be used, 

 and methods of culture to be observed, 

 as we'.l as criticisms and descriptions 

 of new varieties as they appear, with 

 histories of the achievements of each 

 in the competitive exhibitions through- 

 out the country, with able discussions 

 on the ancestry of each pedigreed va- 

 riety; its vigor of constitution or lack 

 of it; its freedom of bloom or its fail- 

 ure to have this very desirable qual- 

 ity; its desirable habit of commencing 

 to bloom early in the fall, or its un- 

 desirable tendency to defer blooming 

 until a later period. Detailed and fre- 

 quent information on every thing per- 

 taining to carnationr is so easily ac- 



ssible that every one interested must 

 have his desire for knowledge almost 

 satisfied, as far as the printed 

 page can give, and little further can 

 be learned except by personal culture 

 of the plant, which occupation I rec- 

 ommend to every amateur as one of 

 the most charming that can engage 

 his or her attention. So. I feel that 

 if I am to interest you tonight, it may 

 be by a brief expression of my 

 thoughts as I review my experiences 

 of the past forty years, with mention 

 of the most famous varieties which 

 have appeared from time to time, re- 

 maining with us until they were 

 either overtaken with disease or were 

 displaced by better varieties of similar 

 color and character. Of the hundreds 

 of sorts introduced in that period I 

 will speak in about the order of their 

 introduction, and of each color sep- 

 arately, so as to bring clearly to your 

 minds the wonderful improvement 

 which, notwithstanding many failures. 

 has gradually been made. 



Improvements Maintain Interest. 

 The frequent appearance of im- 

 proved varieties is the principal factor 

 in maintaining the lively interest in 

 the carnaton; there is always some- 

 thing to be said about a distinguished 

 comer and comparisons to be 

 made with those that have preceded 

 it. Scarcely a year passes by without 

 bringing us one or more real improve- 

 ments; other kinds of plants and flow- 

 ers, with the possible exception of the 

 chrysanthemum, do not appear to be 

 so susceptible of improvement. 



Take the rose, for instance, par 

 larly the varieties which are forced for 

 cut flowers; we see few changes for 

 the better. Bride and Bridesmaid 

 have remained for many years the 

 leading teas, and the peerless Ameri- 

 can Beauty has had no rival for a 

 quarter of a century. It is true that 

 quite recently there have been intro- 

 duced several good forcing roses, Lib- 

 erty, Killarney, and, last, the very 

 valuable Richmond rose. The latter 

 is destined to be very largely grown; 

 all honor to E. G. Hill for the Rich- 

 mond. * * * He is busy r= 

 rose seedlings, has thousands on the 

 way. and with the experience of so 

 many years to help him, is almost 

 certain, soon again, to give us some- 

 thing we will all be proud of. 



But we cannot hope to get good, new 



- as frequently as carnations: 



not in the wood. Take, again, another 

 class of plants, the palms, so deserv- 

 edly popular as house plants. Noth- 

 ing new appears at all equal to the old- 

 time kentias and arecas. New palms, 

 it is true, are introduced from time to 

 time, but none equal to those which 

 we have had so many v 



While the constant introduction of 

 new carnations is very interesting and 

 fascinating, it is alas. true, that where 

 we get one real improvement, there 

 are several introduced with exagger- 

 ated praises which are practically 

 worthless. But it will be more difficult 

 in the future to send out poor or 

 mediocre sorts; the trade is becoming 

 more and more critical and the Na- 

 tional Carnation Society is doing all 

 it can to prevent the introduction of 

 inferior sorts. If there be a really 

 good sort ready for the market, this 

 very critical inspection and wide pub- 

 licity will only serve to advertise its 

 merits and increase its sale. 



The First Valuable Carnation. 



The first valuable carnation to come 

 under my notice was La Purite, which 

 is generally spoken of as of a deep 

 pink color; it was rather a carmine 

 with violet flame. The shade was 

 very pleasing. It was imported from 

 France in 1S5S: in 1862 my fa 

 bought one plant which cost $2-50 and 

 proved to be a good investment, as it 

 was of easy propagation, and two 

 years later we had a good stock which 

 was in brisk demand at $20 per hun- 

 dred. I once heard the late George 



- n of Maiden. Mass.. who was a 

 very successful florist, say that the 

 best investment he ever made in flori- 

 culture was the purchase of fifty 

 plants of La Purite at 35 per plant. 

 This was probably in 1S61. This car- 

 nation was for fifteen years or more 

 the most largely cultivated of the 

 time. It was very productive. I hav- 



a house of it at the late Wm. Ben: 

 at Flatbush. which had on every plant 

 from seventy-five to one hundred 

 as he grew it, but it came to pass, 

 after he had grown it so well for a 

 number of years, it was attacked by 

 stem-rot, and on calling at his place 

 one day early in the winter, I found 

 more than one-half the plants dead. It 

 was so attacked with more or 

 virulence, in all sections of the coun- 

 try and, I believe, the once grand old 



variety is now extinct. I last saw it 

 at Karl Muller's place in West Phila- 

 delphia, about fifteen years ago. This 

 fine old German gardener managed to 

 grow it successfully five or six years 

 after it had generally disappeared. The 

 blooms of La Purite were about one- 

 third the size of our now famous En- 

 chantress, and the mental comparison 

 -en the two is to me very inter- 

 g. No carnation has had, as the 

 theatrical men say, such a long run on 

 e as La Puriie. Its successors 

 in the deep pink class were Tidal 

 Wave and Thomas Cartledge, both 

 useful, but Tidal Wave attained the 

 ter popularity. 



The Light Pink Class. 

 Of the light pink class there have 

 been several notable ones. Grace 

 Wilder, introduced by Mr. Tailby, was 

 a very useful variety, for many years 

 the best of its color. Later, we had 

 the famous Wm. Scott, and if Mr. Dor- 

 ner had done nothing else, he deserves 

 a monument for raising and introduc- 

 ing this. It came out at the same time 

 as Richmond and Albertini, both of 

 which excelled it on the exhibition 

 table, but both fell so far behind it in 

 productiveness that they were soon 

 dropped, while Wm. Scott for many 

 s had no successful rival, until 

 Mrs. Frances Joost appeared. Later, 

 we had Nelson and Genevieve Lord. 

 The famous Lawson then appeared. 

 The introduction of this variety gave 

 a greater impulse to carnation grow- 

 ing than any variety before or since. 

 In many respects it was superior to 

 anything preceding it: it was bril- 

 liantly advertised, and best of all, jus- 

 tified every claim made for it. It 

 made Peter Fisher's name a house- 

 hold word in carnation circles, and 

 when he introduced Enchantress, say- 

 ing that it was better than Lawson, 

 there were many doubters, but Peter 

 was right. We hope he may live to 

 ns more as good or better. The 

 parents of Lawson were Tidal Wave 

 (locally known as Van Leeuwen) and 

 Daybreak, which latter was a distinct 

 and valuable break. Out of Lawson 

 have come several famous sorts, En- 

 chantress. Mrs. M. A. Patten and Nel- 

 son Fisher; and Mr. Fisher has a bril- 

 liant red on the way. It is certainly 

 a rich strain of blood. 



; we are ready for another one 

 of this color. Helen Goddard bids fair 

 to be a winner, and when Helen Gould 

 and Winsor are introduced next year, 

 particularly Winsor, they will certain- 

 ly prove valuable. I am in love with 

 Winsor; it is just the shade of pink 

 that is wanted, has a vigorous consti- 

 tution, a fine, stiff stem, and is very 

 productive. I have had no opportunity 



- ~ing Candace. a western variety 

 now being disseminated, but I have 

 heard it well spoken of by competent 



- 



Another shade of color which has 



very popular may be called very 



••ink. The first one of these that 



I was familiar with was Miss Joliffe, 



a light flesh, tinted with salmon, I 



knew it well thirty years ago as the 



• of its class. Later we had Day- 



:. This was a very valuable va- 



with flowers larger than any 



which had preceded it and with, for 



